With the 2021 campaign on the horizon, Real Salt Lake enters preseason with a fresh class of Homegrown players ready to prove their worth with the first team. The ever-growing presence of the Real Salt Lake Academy is alive and well as three more offseason additions to the squad bring the number of homegrown players on the current roster to 11, tied for the most in Major League Soccer.
Defender Andrew Brody enters the squad after more than 100 appearances with the Real Monarchs across all competitions, while goalkeeper Jeff Dewsnup joins Christopher Garcia on the list of recent players to make the jump straight from the Academy to the first team. Midfielder Bode Davis went straight from the Academy to the Monarchs last season, where he made 15 appearances before his move up to Real Salt Lake this offseason.
Before his stint with the Monarchs began this past July, Davis spent time with the RSL Academy. After growing up in Kaysville, Utah, Davis joined the Academy at the age of 14 and never looked back. Throughout his time with the Academy, the 19-year-old played in 62 matches as either a winger or a striker, with 60 of those appearances being starts. He scored 18 total goals during that time and earned a spot with the Monarchs on July 11. Five days later he signed professionally for the Monarchs and went on to record two goals, two assists and 10 starts. Davis made the jump to Real Salt Lake in September of last year and will compete in the midfield this MLS season.
Another sign of strong academy production can be found in 16-year-old Dewsnup. The young goalkeeper became the youngest-ever Homegrown player to sign for Real Salt Lake when he signed in January, joining the first team directly from the Academy. Having grown up in Herriman, Utah, Dewsnup also became the first Herriman City native to attend the RSL Academy and earn a contract with Real Salt Lake. With 12 appearances at the U-16/17 RSL Academy level under his belt, Dewsnup already spent time in 2019 and 2020 training with the first team as well as with his childhood idol, Nick Rimando. In addition, Dewsnup has received call-ups to the U.S. at the U-15 and U-17 levels.
Garcia is another player to have signed directly from the RSL Academy to Real Salt Lake last season, but missed the majority of the campaign due to injury. The 18-year-old forward is looking to make the most of this upcoming season by finally building on his standout career with the Academy. Joining the RSL Academy ahead of the 2018-2019 season, Garcia went on to start in 30 of his 38 matches and scored 18 goals. During the 2019-2020 U.S. Soccer Development Academy season, Garcia tallied seven goals in just six matches. The El Paso, Texas native also helped the U-17s go undefeated with a goal in the USSDA Winter Showcase before earning his contract with RSL.
A graduate of the RSL Academy program in 2016, Brody joins Real Salt Lake after five successful seasons with the Real Monarchs. Throughout his aforementioned 100 appearances for the USL Championship side, Brody scored seven goals and added seven assists in 7,770 career minutes. During his time with the Monarchs the 25 year-old spent a year on loan with Pinzgau Saalfelden in Austria. He scored four goals in 16 matches there before rejoining the Monarchs ahead of the restarted 2020 campaign in July. Brody officially signed with Real Salt Lake this past September and highlights an impressive group of incoming RSL Academy graduates.
Real Salt Lake has now signed 24 Homegrown players since the inception of the RSL Academy. The club has demonstrated the ability to develop high-level players from within in the past, but the recent signings of Davis, Dewsnup, Garcia and Brody prove that the RSL Academy’s future is brighter than ever before.
